Coming off a five-game road stretch and two tough losses, the Wisconsin men’s soccer team (0-0-1, Big Ten, 6-2-1 overall) came back in a big way to defeat in-state rival Marquette (1-0-0 Big East, 5-3-1) 1-0 at the McClimon Soccer Complex Wednesday.
Following a 3-1 loss in their Big Ten season opener to Penn State Sunday, the Badgers were looking to return to a winning streak, according to senior forward Nick Janus.
“We kind of came together after that Penn State loss because we knew we should have had that one,” he said. “We knew we had to win tonight, and tonight was big.”
The game started with both teams going back and forth, trading possession in an aggressive first half. Thanks to the strong defense of both teams, the ball was kept out of the back of the net despite a combined seven shots from both sides.
The Golden Eagles came out strong at the beginning of the second half but Wisconsin fought back, with Janus scoring the only goal of the game on a header in the 71st minute after an assist from senior forward Chris Prince.
The goal stemmed from a defensive stop on the right side by redshirt sophomore defender Carl Schneider, which ignited a quick counter attack, garnering praise from head coach John Trask.
“Our right side completely dominated their left side and that was where the goal came from,” Trask said. “Carl Schneider was a man tonight. I mean physically, mentally, every part of his game was quality tonight.”
Until Wednesday, Wisconsin had not beaten Marquette since 2009, losing a 2-1 heartbreaker in double overtime last year. This represents a big step forward for the Badgers in the I-94 rivalry.
“I mean, we played against all those guys in high school so it’s a big rivalry and it felt good to finally beat them,” Janus said. “We want to prove that we are a team that is competitive for the NCAA tournament and to do that you have to beat the big teams, and beating Marquette is a huge step for us.”
Coming back to McClimon after a road-heavy stretch and getting a win against Marquette was special, according to Trask.
“There’s a lot of emotion on the line, it just amounts to a bigger game,” Trask said. “I think probably the difference, in all honesty, is that we are at home. The fans came out, I thought we had great support. Our guys love to play at home. This is as good as it gets in college soccer.”
Trask knows that the team can’t look ahead to its next Big Ten game against Indiana Oct. 11 and overlook the upcoming matchup against Drake next week.
“Drake is going to come in here and be tough and be feisty,” he said. “It will be a very, very demanding game on Tuesday. If we start thinking about Indiana, we won’t beat Drake. We have to focus 100 percent on Drake.”
